Knicks Morning News (2019.02.15)

Yup…DSJ is definitely Derrick Rose 2.0. I hope his knee doesn’t break down. In the 7 games since he’s joined the Knicks, I have yet to see a defense keep him out of the paint. When his jumper is falling he looks unguardable. I want Kyrie because he’s a much better shooter and he actually tries on defense, but at the same time I wanna see DSJ develop as a Knick. Can’t have both though..one has to go. If landing AD costs us DSJ, fine. But if we end up Brow-less, then I’d think real hard about making Kyrie a priority vs developing DSJ. Both have injury concerns that should be considered. Looking at DSJ’s potential makes it harder to say Kyrie or bust now. We’ll see how he plays once Mudiay and Ntilikina returns

He’s playing well but I think he might be a better fit as PG2 playing alongside Trier. What’s Fiz gonna do with Mudiay? He seems to have a good thing going with the current PG rotation

Serious question – should Kadeem Allen be our starting PG?

He wasn’t that good in the G league and he’s not young. Maybe I’ll be wrong, but I think this is just a G league caliber player having a few good games and maybe earning a spot on a weaker NBA team.

Random Mitch Stuff:

> Mitch has changed his agent yet again. I think he’s upset about not being selected to that rookie all-star team. He should be. He’s putting up historic stats for a rook.
> Fake Mitch aka Robert Williams has the greatest disparity ever in RPM vs BPM. He ranks 64th out of 65 centers on RPM (Bamba is 65th and WHG is 62nd) while sporting a 5.7 bpm & 20.1 PER. Mitch is 25th on RPM among centers at +.82.
> Mitch >> Tatum. I don’t believe this is even a subject of debate. If AD wants to be a Knick he should force his way here. Just state he’ll only sign an extension for Knicks. Lakers might call that bluff but maybe not if Kawhi is a Laker. Pels would still receive some young players to make #’s work and we’d throw in some picks. Lance’s 7m contract could be useful in any trade which could take place any time before July 1st.

Not that they need to be babysitters, but how do they pivot from “we’re gonna fix you Mudiay etc” to “oh nevermind.” Not that Mudiay was great or is owed anything but it comes off as BS artist.

I mean, what about this season of the New York Knicks doesn’t come off as BS artist? The focus on “defense”, “eat what you kill”, “building a new culture”…

All the things Fizdale said should honestly be seen just as random PR, I don’t even think he believes in what he says most of the time. What should matter is that as a franchise we finally have some hope to go with, as there’s two possible scenarios that are very favorable to us (Zion and / or top free agents).

The rest is just stuff people say to fill media time.

All the things Fizdale said should honestly be seen just as random PR, I don’t even think he believes in what he says most of the time.

That’s why I’ve referred to him as a snake oil salesman.

I’ve run into personalities like this in the past. Typically they are high level executives. They’ll take you through a presentation about the company and talk glowingly about the culture change, new direction of the company, great financial projections, etc.. You’ll come away feeling like this is going to be the greatest company in the world. Then 3 weeks later 3 of your best friends in the company (highly competent workers) get laid off, they suspend payments to everyone’s 401K, the stock is down 20%, and all hell is breaking loose.

I think part of “political” success in this world (not just actual politics but in business also) is being so wildly optimistic you border on delusional. Superiors, subordinates, and just people in general respond much better to optimistic delusions than uncomfortable truths. Every CEO I have ever known was wildly optimistic and exuded that kind of positivity no matter how badly things were going.

In the end though, the truth usually prevails (though usually not before the optimist has lined his pockets and moved on to the next gig).

Strat, it seems like you’re projecting a lot of shit onto Fizdale. What exactly do you want him to say? Do you want him to be brutally honest about the players after every game?

“Yeah we lost tonight becaus Knox is just a horrible player. I’m not sure he was the right pick for us. He could improve but if you look at his advanced statistics, the chances of that happening are really slim. Mudiay is better this year than he’s been before, but even with his improvement, at best he’s a 3rd string point guard on an average NBA team. Dotson? He’s pretty good but he’s all ready 24 years old, so the odds of him getting better are slim. Frank is a decent team defender, but he’s so bad on offense right now that the path to him being a good NBA player is very slim. We just don’t have good players on this team right now.”

Is this what you expect him to say? Positivity is actually a necessity when you have a bad team full of 19 to 22 year old players in the NBA. Part of his job is to talk them up so that they themselves believe they can get better. Its one thing to call out a superstar player on a max contract when they mail it in. These are all young players making peanuts compared to most of their peers. Cut him some slack.

Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that it took Kittles to show Mitch how to reduce his fouling? And that his defensive rebounding improved after Jordan got here? Does this not indicate a failure on the part of our coaching staff? And Frank/Hez/Baker/Trier/Knox are not exactly positive exhibits of our crack staff at work. Vonleh is regressing hard. Other than Mudiay, I think they’ve done a poor job at what they’re supposed to be focused on this season which is in stark contrast to Westchester staff.